Dealing with ‘swarm week’ in Barry and Cardiff
News from the Fonmon Apiary – with Harold Williams
WELL, the final week of May certainly provided several swarms. Six to be exact.
These were not from my colonies but sited around Barry and Cardiff. When collecting a swarm, it is usual practice to get the swarm into your temporary receptacle and to leave it on site until late evening. The leaving on site until late evening is to accommodate all of the bees in the swarm, as bees do not fly at night.
On returning on two of the occasions the collected swarms had departed, not a bee to be seen! This is not at all unusual, although we could see from the bees’ behaviour that the Queen was in our container along with her swarm. The scouts who were detailed with finding a suitable home had done just that. I have used three of the swarms to replace the colonies that I lost due to Storm Henk in January.
As ever, it is the weather that dominates when swarming time arrives. Colonies will choose warm dry days to depart, so as to give themselves every chance of surviving. The Queen bee is not actually a good flyer, so when a swarm sets off the Queen must rest frequently – and this is what gives rise to the sometimes awkward places the beekeeper has to tackle when collecting a swarm.
The easiest by far are the ones hanging in a nice ball shape at head height, usually on a bush. The use of a straw skep is very suitable for these swarms. A skep is a hive that was used many years ago, before we found boxes easier to use and handle. So, we approach the swarm, place the skep so that it encloses as much of the swarm as possible, a gentle tap of the branch they are on will cause the bees to fall into your skep or you can cut the branch using secateurs. Not every member of the swarm will be collected, some will take to the air, this is why you place your container/skep onto the ground as near to the original site as possible, making sure that you leave provision for bees to enter or in fact leave.
Swarms have a particular liking for the straw skep and nine times out of 10 they are comfortably ensconced when you return in the late evening. A swarm is programmed to start building a new home so installing them into a regular hive is the next step. Here again the bees may decide that they do not like this new home and will depart!
You do not win them all.
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